Lewis, Thomason, King, Krieg & Waldrop, P.C.

News Release

Cloud Computing Can Brew Up A Legal Storm

I love the English language. I love its nuance. I love its complexity. The entire scope of a question can change with one word. Compare “What is a cloud?” to “What is the cloud?” Replacing “a” with “the” takes us in an entirely different direction, from cumulus and Shelley to terabytes and Jobs.

When people talk about using “the” cloud, they are referring to cloud computing — accessing a large number of computers through real-time communication networks. Instead of having to carry around a flash drive, for example, you can store a memo on Google Drive. With Internet access and a password, you can pull that memo up anytime from anywhere.

Steve Jobs saw this coming in 1997: “I don’t need a hard disk in my computer if I can get to the server faster carrying around these non-connected computers is Byzantine by comparison.”